2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
The 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is the third race of the 2017 IndyCar Series and will take place on April 23 at Barber Motorsports Park. Surprisingly, Indy Lights and USF2000 are entered but not Pro Mazda. Due to Friday's track repair, everything after USF2000 Qualifications was pushed back an hour. Simon Pagenaud is the defending champion of the race, after winning the 2016 race. Pagenaud finished 3rd and this is Josef Newgarden's 2nd win at Barber Motorsports Park, having win in 2015. Drivers entered It is the same as Long Beach. It is unsure if JR Hildebrand is able to participate at Barber; but IndyCar officials said that young American Zach Veach will sub for Hildebrand this round. ;Chevrolet * Hélio Castroneves * Simon Pagenaud * Will Power * ' Josef Newgarden' * Conor Daly * Carlos Muñoz * Spencer Pigot * Zach Veach ;Honda * Takuma Sato * Marco Andretti * Ryan Hunter-Reay * Alexander Rossi * Max Chilton * Scott Dixon * Tony Kanaan * Charlie Kimball * Sébastien Bourdais * Ed Jones * Graham Rahal * James Hinchcliffe * Mikhail Aleshin Indy Lights Practice 1 Qualifications 1 Race 1 Qualifications 2 Race 2 USF2000 Practice 1 Qualifications 1 Race 1 Qualifications 2 Race 2 IndyCar Pre-race IndyCar subbed JR Hildebrand for Zach Veach. Hildebrand wasn't cleared to drive by officials. BATC officials decided that Saderd will wear the Pai Pongsatorn racing suit for Barber and Phoenix. Due to Pai Pongsatorn's hospitalization, Pee Saderd will wear a Pai Pongsatorn racing suit and Qiaodan gear with 27 in the left, the Russian flag in the middle and says "Saderd". The Andretti Autosport people will need to bounce back from their rough Long Beach race. This event is also marking Indy Light's 400th anniversary. Practice 1 Simon Pagenaud led the session in an all Team Penske top four. Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Hélio Castroneves finished 2-3-4. The highest non-Penske, Alexander Rossi who was Rookie of the Year in the 2016 IndyCar Series finished 5th in practice. Zach Veach, who subs for Hildebrand at Barber, finished 21st in the charts. Results Practice 1 results Practice 2 The reigning Math Open singles champion Pee Saderd wrecked the Team Penske party by topping it; despite wearing a Pai Pongsatorn suit and Russia's withdrawal from the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. This is Saderd's sixth time this year he's been on top (along with the Race of Champions, Rolex 24 at Daytona, Sebring Open, the first practice at St Petersburg and Math Open). Despite having a three star day by Jacqueline Bigar, Saderd took a star away from his countryman Galvantula and got four instead for topping the practice. Zach Veach struggled again, this time two seconds behind Pee Saderd in the chart table. The top 5 in the session (Saderd, Pagenaud, Power, Dixon, Castroneves) were not the top 10 seeds in the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells. Practice 2 at Barber was good for Garbiñe Muguruza, her country's best result since Ueli Kestenholz made the Math Open final. Joey Fatone finished 7th, making Poland and the boy band DWTS episode of season 24 proud. This is the first time since Practice 1 at St Petersburg that the topper of the practice is neither Team Penske nor Chip Ganassi Racing. The practice session was marred by red flags, one involving Max Chilton and one involving Ed Jones. Results: Practice 2 results Practice 3 Will Power topped the practice, followed by Josef Newgarden and Hélio Castroneves. Joey Fatone wrecked the Team Penske sweep by finishing 4th, the second consecutive Barber practice a musician wrecked a Penske, the first being Pee Saderd in practice 2. Simon Pagenaud finishes 5th. Pamela Anderson, Scott Dixon, Pee Saderd, Graham Rahal and Chespin round the top 10. Allen Ford was at one point six seconds behind Penskes, but he managed to finish last in the session despite having engine issues. Results:Practice 3 Results Qualifying There will be one group of 11 and one group of 10. Seeds Due to the Will Power rule, BATC will use the 2017 Math Open at Indian Wells seedings again. It is due to entering the race, Power is currently 19th in the standings. Also due to Hildebrand's injury, Zach Veach will sub for him. Scott Dixon (Qualified) Simon Pagenaud (Qualified) Will Power (Pole Winner) Dragonite (Fast 12) Pee Saderd (First round) Hélio Castroneves (Qualified) Graham Rahal (First round) Ryan Hunter-Reay (Qualified) Pamela Anderson (Qualified) Garbiñe Muguruza (First round) Olga Fatkulina (Fast 12) Larvesta (Fast 12) Metagross (First round) Joey Fatone (Fast 12) Apolo Anton Ohno (First round) Mario Lopez (First round) Magearna (First round) Allen Ford (First round) Chespin (Fast 12) Magearna (First round) Jonathan Bald (Fast 12) Group 1 The group contains of: Dragonite, Joey Fatone, Pamela Anderson, Pee Saderd, Chespin, Jonathan Bald, Larvesta, Magearna, Garbiñe Muguruza, Magearna The Math Open winner Pee Saderd and finalist Ueli Kestenholz were drawn in the group. Neither Pee Saderd nor Kestenholz advanced. Neither of them didn't advance, as Saderd was P7 and Kestenholz was P8. Saderd's negative qualifying record in qualifying groups of IndyCar continued as this was Saderd's third straight attempt during the 2017 season that he failed to advance from the first round of qualifying. Advancing: Pamela Anderson, Larvesta, Dragonite, Joey Fatone, Jonathan Bald, Chespin Not advancing: Pee Saderd, Garbiñe Muguruza, Spencer Pigot, Zach Veach Group 2 Contains of: Will Power, Hélio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Olga Fatkulina, Apolo Anton Ohno, Metagross, Mario Lopez, Allen Ford Group 2 is everyone's group of death, as six of the top eight drivers seeded in the Math Open are drawn in the group. Had Pai Pongsatorn not been in the hospital that week, Pee Saderd or Dragonite would have been drawn in this group. Advancing: Will Power, Scott Dixon, Hélio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Olga Fatkulina Not advancing: Apolo Anton Ohno, Mario Lopez, Metagross, Allen Ford, Graham Rahal Fast 12 In group 1, Pamela Anderson, Larvesta, Dragonite, Joey Fatone, Jonathan Bald, and Chespin qualify, but neither one of the Math Open finalists Pee Saderd nor Ueli Kestenholz qualified. In group 2, Will Power, Scott Dixon, Hélio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Olga Fatkulina. A huge shock for BATC fans as Graham Rahal will start 21st. Had Rahal start better than Saderd on the grid, Rahal would have participated at the Eurovision Open. Advancing: Hélio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon, Pamela Anderson Not advancing: Dragonite, Joey Fatone, Chespin, Larvesta, Jonathan Bald, Olga Fatkulina Fast 6 Hondas: Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Pamela Anderson Chevys: Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Hélio Castroneves Will Power won the pole and his second of the 2017 IndyCar Series. Hélio Castroneves finished 2nd and Simon Pagenaud finished 3rd, making it a Team Penske top three. Had Dragonite advance, he would have made it all four Penskes in the Fast Six. Practice Final It was delayed by 15 minutes from the original 9:45 AM start (10:45 EST, 21:45 in Thailand) due to rain. The Honduras national IndyCar team, led by Hélio Castroneves, caused a red by going off the course. However he managed to drive back into his pit lane. Joey Fatone, Zach Veach nor Pamela Anderson took a lap this session. Ueli Kestenholz finished 34 seconds behind Saderd, whom he lost against at the Math Open final. Pee Saderd, the reigning champion of the Math Open, topped the practice with his lap flying in the last minutes of the 30 minute session. This is Saderd's 7th time in 2017 he was on top (also the second Barber practice). Practice results:Practice Final results Starting grid Race If Pee Saderd finishes the race, Russia will participate at the 2017 M-150 Thailand Tour on April 29-30, but they will not send Saderd and Andretti due to Phoenix and instead send their Pokemon to the event. Russia will also go to the May 1 final one but also not sending Saderd or Andretti. If they fail to finish, they fail to qualify for the event. The postponement of the NASCAR race at Bristol meant they will automatically qualify for the last two tours. Saderd finishing 21st is also the second time this year that Saderd finished out of the top 20 (also Long Beach). The race started with Will Power taking the lead. An upset Pee Saderd had issues with his engine and a caution was out in the first few laps for debris. Saderd was three laps down to Will Power when the caution was out for debris coming off his Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay. Power pitted, then he gave the lead to his teammate Hélio Castroneves. Castroneves pitted, so the lead was swapped to Scott Dixon. Dixon pitted, then the lead was given back to Will Power. When Munoz was a lap down, Will Power continued to lead the race as his reds weren't working and switched to blacks. Power pits, then Scott Dixon takes the lead. After Dixon pitted, Will Power took the lead. After the pits, Carlos Munoz and Ed Jones were in the lead lap. Most of the drivers pitted, and the lead went to Garbiñe Muguruza. In some portion of the second half, rain was brought it. Ueli Kestenholz continued to lead fellow Math Open finalist Pee Saderd and Saderd was three laps down to Kestenholz, the eventual finalist. Kimball pitted, and the lead was handed back to Will Power. Will Power pitted and the lead was handed to his teammate Josef Newgarden. Josef Newgarden won the race and his first of 2017. This is also Newgarden's second win at Barber (also 2015). When the race results came, Pee Saderd was eliminated from Nong mai tai dao, a special album containing new Grammy Gold singers. Shortly after Pee Saderd finished 21st, his fellow Luk thung singer Phai Pongsatorn went out of the hospital, and walked again. Trivia *Multiple rows were known as: **Row 5 contains of Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Larvesta and Chespin; also both of them are pre-evolutions, Larvesta evolves into Volcarona and Chespin evolves into Quilladin. **Row 6 contains of Dale Coyne Racing teammates Jonathan Bald and Olga Fatkulina. **Row 7 contains of Andretti Autosport teammates Pee Saderd and Apolo Anton Ohno. Both of them are Asian, Saderd is Thai and Ohno is Japanese. Category:2017 in sports Category:IndyCar